Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)

And to follow that up; Vali's entry into the Grand Keris-Soul Horse Debate.

Lorumecs, the Blade-Hooves
Demon of the First Circle
Progeny of the Sound that Sunders

The eyes of a lorumec are as bright as a bonfire, and pierce smoke or fog as easily as the gloom of the night. When they charge through the heights of the Spires, it is with a pounding cacophony and a caterwauling of wild screams; leaving a trail of carved-up road and shattered walls behind them. No wall or barred gate can deny them passage; for it is their nature to break through such barriers and revel in their shattering.

A lorumec is somewhat akin to a horse, with eight legs arranged in a single line along its body. The first and last end in tough blades of bone-metal on which it balances, while the other six are brass-shod hooves. With these it pounds the ground to propel itself forward; skating along at speed and leaving a wide groove cut into anything weaker than steel. Its head is adorned with two great curling ram horns, and muscle and reinforced bone render its neck all but unbreakable. When it lowers its head to charge an obstruction, naught but a supernal structure can withstand the force they bring to bear.

No desire for a rider drives the lorumecs. They gallop as they do for the revelry; as often-drunken vandals and hooligans who make sport of smashing stalls and skulls. They are prone to arming their riders with maces or staves; blunt weapons to bring down on the things they pass at speed. While their balance is superb, the blade-hooves have a mortal fear of being unseated, for they cannot right themselves if they fall and it greatly wounds their pride to beg for help.

Summoning: Demonologists summon the blade-hooves as war-steeds. Their blinding-bright eyes, cacophonous hooves and wild yells make an intimidating front even before they tear into an enemy line with thrashing horns and pounding kicks. Their vigour is infectious, and a rider will keep going past the point of fatigue. They also see use as siege-breakers who can shatter shield-walls or fortifications, or as loud but swift steeds who are impossible to stop. A lorumec gains a point of Limit whenever its passage is barred by a barrier it cannot break - whether by order or inability. Should a rebel against the rule of society be torn from their mount and confined against their will, a lorumec can ram its way into Creation and offer a ride to freedom.
 
I will note that their escape condition is intentionally written so that you can pull a drunken young hooligan in a leather jacket off his horse and throw him in lock-up for the night, and then he comes crashing out through the wall on a fucking demon motorbike at 3am, whooping and whirling an iron bar around in one hand.
 

An important thing to remember is that Vali is next-door neighbours with Eko. Calesco is neighbours with Eko because Eko loves her cute adorable little imouto-chan and she's a calming influence on her.

Vali is not a calming influence on Eko. Vali and Eko get on well. They just feed into one another. And like breaking things. And running around quickly. And don't like it when there are too many rules. After all, the Ruin is a Mad Max anarchy set up for Eko's amusement and so there's always fun things to do, and the Spires are a libertarian Nexus-ocracy where Vali takes the place of the Emissary and punches people who break the few absolute rules he sets.
 
A Silent Blade - Chapter 6
Welp, chapter 6 is up. Two big things here. The first is ORANGE BLOSSOM, WHOOO! Playing with her is honestly so much fun, due to her relationship with Keris and how they're on the same side but have History and don't like each other all that much. They're wonderfully antagonistic in a way that I don't have to worry will lead to knives coming out to stab me in the back later on. Glorious.

And the other one is Cinnamoooooooon! Oh man, Tenné fucking Cinnamon, hah hah. This was just the perfect opportunity to introduce her as an identity, and I have had this false identity in mind for so long, my god. She literally first showed up in our planning back in October last goddamn year, when we realised that Keris is a frankly terrifying force of seduction and performance-type social influence, and decided that she would eventually set up an Inara-like identity as a performer and courtesan so high-class that basically only a dragonblood or a leader of a pirate fleet might be able to sleep with her, and most pirate lords need to pay through the nose just to hire her to perform. Little River is a pirate queen and crime lord who can destroy a fleet or conquer an island, but Cinnamon is going to have soft power out the wazoo - because between Keris's ridiculous dicepools, her freedom to move between groups since she's an Exotic Beauty who belongs to none of them and her various social charmtech, she can get people to pay her to come and let her drop a sledgehammer made of UMI on their heads. Repeatedly. At length.

It's also going to lead into some very interesting plot territory and character development, mwaa haa.

Extras:
Aleph: I love how Orange Blossom is just sort of accepting that Keris can manage to break into a high-security Lookshyian fort with a DB staff or punch through the mists of Eshtock.
EarthScorpion: Look, by now Keris is a several years experienced Infernal who's been - hem hem - serving as Sasi's personal attack dog and spy in An Teng. Orange Blossom doesn't like Sasi; she doesn't think she's an idiot and thus she'll make sure her allies are well-trained
Aleph: Heh.
Aleph: ... though in fairness, Sasi really doesn't have much to do with Keris's bullshit skill at stealing things.
Aleph: That's all natural talent, baby.

...

Aleph: Hee.
Orange Blossom sits back, silent for a whole minute. The lack of noise stretches onwards. "My own sweet emissary is daubed in carmine and roses," she says, eventually.​
Aleph: standout moment of the session : D
Aleph: brilliant wham line
EarthScorpion: : D
EarthScorpion: Keris is not the only one dabbling in such things. Orange Blossom's just got a radically different paradigm.
Aleph: I thought not. Though I do wonder when Orange Blossom first externalised hers.
EarthScorpion: How did you think she managed to keep assets in Hell and Creation managed at the same time?
Aleph: Hah. Clever.
EarthScorpion: But yeah, how did you feel about this session?
Aleph: Hmm. Mixed. On the one hand, the Orange Blossom stuff was great, and the introduction of Cinnamon was actually really convenient and a nice place to start that thread off. But, mm... I definitely do want to steal that dragon, which I suspect is going to make the mists dissolve, which will probably piss Orange Blossom off again. And I'd like for things in Eshtock not to feel unresolved, but I also don't want them to drag out when they're not really the focus of this arc.

...

EarthScorpion: Of course, the fact that Keris wants everyone to like her and always tries to win everything rather than taking what she can get might be considered a personality flaw.
Aleph: well yes
Aleph: duh
Aleph: She doesn't like knowing that people hate her at all. It makes her think that she's going to wake up with a knife stuck in her back.
Aleph: When she's in the open and people hate her, she's twitchy as hell.
Aleph: Her nature is an ambush predator hidden in fog, after all.

...

EarthScorpion: Yeah, the Calesco stuff kind of happened because... she was turning out really grumpy and I was like "Oh shit it's been pretty much exactly a month since she hit 2CD level"
Aleph: lawl
Aleph: poor Calesco
Aleph: Eko is being infuriating by not having to suffer that
EarthScorpion: Hmm. How does Calesco feel about owls?
Aleph: Hmm. Yes, she quite likes them. She personally likes insects in the same way that Rathan likes orcas, but her bird themes bring doves and owls under her banner.
Aleph: ... sigh. No, it's not that. It's that she's associated with doves and owls thematically, but she thinks bugs and insects are cute.
EarthScorpion: Sigh. And while they're under her thematics, Haneyl is going to steal the giant owls from the Mistlands when she finds out they exist because she thinks birds and dinosaurs are adorable. And probably turn them into allosauruses.
Aleph: of course she is ¬_¬
Aleph: because what the Swamp really needs is large theropod carnivores.
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: "Of course! I need something big enough for my farissya to fight!"
Aleph: YOU HAVE SWAMP DRAGONS
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: "I need more diversity."

...

EarthScorpion: Okay, so, hmm. Either today or tomorrow, we can do an addendum scene for the last session where Keris and Orange Blossom do have their additional agreement for what to do to him. We'll get that done, setting up things properly for the next session.
Aleph: Sounds good.
Aleph: ... sigh. Yeah, using Cinnamon like that? Deliberately playing it up when she went to see Orange Blossom, exactly as told to but entirely against her wishes? Just to tweak her nose and throw her off-balance?
Aleph: Zanaaaaaaa~
Aleph: Keris's deliberately provocative side.
EarthScorpion: Also Vali with "fuck you try to tell me what to do, I'll do it in a way you don't want me to"
EarthScorpion: Oh, Zana. She likes Cinnamon. But it takes Rathan and Haneyl to polish off the edges of the character.

...

EarthScorpion: Hee. Rathan, Calesco and Haneyl are Keris' three needy babies. Even if Calesco pretends that she doesn't really need attention, she needs Keris to watch her not needing attention. Zanara, Eko and Vali are much more self-reliant.
EarthScorpion: Well, it's not that Zanara is self-reliant, but they're independent and they don't really care who's giving them attention as long as they're getting it.

...

Aleph: You know, when she does have her children, Keris is gonna go FULL IROH and throw herself into physical training to get her edge back.
Aleph: Kuha may spend quite a lot of time blushing while Keris goes through spear form after spear form relentlessly in light clothing, stopping only when her kids need food or attention or similar.
Aleph: *one season-long Minor Project later*
Keris: "Okay. Back in top condition again. Much better."​
EarthScorpion: And of course, soon Kuha will have Mother Before Daughter, so she'll basically just be bonded to Keris.
EarthScorpion: Of course, will she have time to spend doing that? Or is she only going to... sigh. Dammit Keris. Of course, if the twins are a few months older than Little River's child, that just affirms that they're not siblings.

...

EarthScorpion: this is entirely Haneyl's fault
Aleph: that is a foul and terrible lie
Aleph: it's mostly Saji's fault
EarthScorpion: Haneyl enabled her by looking at the transforming lizard demon and going "urgh, that's yucky, it needs to be prettier when it transforms".
Aleph: well yes
Aleph: Well, more like Saji came out with the idea to Haneyl, who thought it was a wonderful idea that had to happen.
Aleph: but Saji was still the one who originated it

...

EarthScorpion: Oh, Keris. Temperamentally, she's much more Eclipse than Zenith, I think. Despite being awful at Travel, Bureaucracy and Politics.
EarthScorpion: (though her plans are such that she's going to have to get good at Politics)
Aleph: : P
Aleph: I'm waiting for her to get Flowering the Fairer Face, which will reboot her Politics paradigm.

...

EarthScorpion: ((Session 143 Addendum))
EarthScorpion: OK, so, first, let's lay the groundwork out OOC. What does Keris want to do, and what do you want to do? These may not be the same thing.
Aleph: Keris wants to get to Baisha FUCKIN' ASAP now that she has the information. She definitely wants to finish stealing the dragon before she goes, though, and also kind of wants to leave the valley in a better state than she found it, because what Illana said about fixing the climate resonated with her Calescoid side. And of course, she'd quite like a shiny new Lunar Ally on her sheet when she leaves.
Aleph: I want to tie up Eshtock from a narrative perspective before moving onto Baisha and not feel like I just left it unfinished - though I'd prefer to do it in one more session if possible so as not to waste time. I'm pretty in-favour of fighting the dude, if only because I'd like to see Keris finally pit herself against an experienced DB and get a tutorial-measure of how dangerous they are. And I'd like to be able to call on Illana in future; she's interesting.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. So, Orange Blossom has other assets than Keris, but obviously she wants as much utility from Keris as is worth it. She also would really like the sorcerous secrets that the Lookshyians are using to get into the mist. The death of the commander is less important now she has majorly compromising information on him, but she still would like Lookshy mad at Thorns
Aleph: Yes, a war between them is very convenient.
EarthScorpion: So, hmm. You want to fight a DB - how about a re-prioritisation? Kill the DBs here who worked out the secrets, the sorcerers and researchers who learned the way to open mist, and get her hands on their notes to get to Orange Blossom?
Aleph: Hmm. So that shifts it to basically "kill everyone, and leave the rubble looking like a Thorns attack if possible/convenient". Yeah, okay, that works. And means Keris can basically hit-and-run around the city as she does best.
EarthScorpion: Not everyone - the members of the sorcerer-engineers. There were 25 of them including the 2 DBs in there plus one additional one who's probably on the outside. Orange Blossom would also probably like at least one captive.
Aleph: Yeah, but it means that leaving people alive to go "it was a deathknight who slew the shozei! I saw it myself!" is of lower priority, so Keris can use her more brutal sneaky hit-and-run ambush tactics.
EarthScorpion: Well, she can still appear as a Deathknight and kill the sorcerer-engineering corps, leaving the other soldiers alive.
Aleph: Mwaa haa. Okay, yeah. That sounds fun.

...

EarthScorpion: So, how did you feel about that?
Aleph: Good. I was briefly worried there that Keris and Orange Blossom would wind up bonding over their souls and becoming... friends.
Aleph: But no, looks like we're back to "bitchy exes who don't like each other", so all's good. : V

...

EarthScorpion: Oh yeah, one quick note.
EarthScorpion: So, one thing I was worrying about was that Orange Blossom and Sasi were sounding too similar in their voices. Did you have any problem with that?
Aleph: Hmm. They are similar, though, mm, their difference in relationship with Keris sort of distinguishes them? But yes, something to keep an eye on.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, I try to make Orange Blossom more aggressive and, mmm
Aleph: Bitchy?
Aleph: Mercentile?
Aleph: Hypocritically reluctant to get her hands dirty and help a girl out?
EarthScorpion: write Sasi as more of a noblewoman/elegant lady, while write Orange Blossom as a CEO
Aleph: Heh
Aleph: or that, yes
EarthScorpion: And that's why she tends to have a drink or a cigarillo in hand. It lets her gesture with it, or exhale a cloud of smoke at Keris.
EarthScorpion: (also, because it was established early on that she has a bit of a habit)
EarthScorpion: Also, heh, did you like the introduction of the mercenaries? To a fair degree, they were an excuse to remind / tutor you that you can just hire mercenaries to make things easier for many objectives.
Aleph: Yes, heh. Though I suspect these ones might wind up associated more with Cinnamon than with Little River.
Aleph: Sigh. If she gets them to the Southwest, they're totally the honour guard at all her performances, and have absolutely no patience whatsoever for "but I'm in love with her!" or "I'm a personal friend of hers and have permission to visit!"
Aleph: Southwestern mercenaries I'll just hire for individual jobs and not care too much about, but the Bloody Lionesses... sigh. Remind Keris of her mother. So she'll probably put in the work to convert them to be loyal to her.
EarthScorpion: After all, her mother might well have ended up in Taira as part of a similar group
Aleph: Indeed
Aleph: ... also
Aleph: If she teaches them how to sail with training charms
Aleph: They'll be Sea-Lionesses~
Aleph: : 3
 
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"Christ." I thought, "Calesco is even more moody than usual, I wonder what's eating at her... Oh. OH."

So, a Demon Lord (albeit a baby one) is PMSing. Hmph. Someone had better break out the heating pad demon and chocolate. Dark Chocolate is probably the best option here, all things considered.

Keris was enjoying playing Cinnamon, she certainly made an entrance! And Orange Blossom didn't see that coming. I do enjoy their little antagonistic relationship, and it was interesting to see Orange Blossom act irrationally for the protection of her souls, it's something she and Keris have in common, though they use different methods.
 
Someone had better break out the heating pad demon
As it so happens...
They retire to a tar-pool where Keris arranges a cherub on Calesco's lap, half in and half out of the pool. It - he, Keris thinks, though it's hard to tell with these little amorphous creatures - quickly warms up to match the temperature of the pool, and she can tell that her daughter is enjoying the heat soaking into her.
Tar cherubs! Basically bags full of tar inside a rubbery skin, so if you put them in a hot bath for a while and then rest their head on your tummy, they act as a hot water bottle!

#bestdemonever.jpg
 
Saatan Festivals
Saata and its Festivals - and Three Examples

While the city-state island of Saata is nominally Immaculate, in practice the religious affairs of the city would give the Mouth of Peace conniptions. House Sinasana cares little if their subjects worship gods or even their ancestors, only drawing a line at demons. Even the local Immaculate Order is riddled with heresies and non-doctrinaire beliefs inherited from the Immaculate Orthodoxy of the Blue Monkey Shogunate

The Saatan calendar holds to the old ways of the Immaculate Orthodoxy and does not have any regular weekly days of rest. However, there are so many festivals and religious observances for the many faiths in the city that perhaps one in every three days is a festival or celebration of some kind. Each of the hundreds of temples in the city have their own holy days, though these vary in scale. The Great Temple of Mercury Wind-Swift holds a grand week-long festival which subsumes the whole city, while smaller temples might simply hold a progression around a single neighbourhood.

The Anathema are not welcome on Saata - in theory. However, the corrupt abbot of the local order is the son of Ana Phu, one of the Gold Faction and so any Celestial Exalts who act too overtly in this city will find the Sidereals getting in contact with them. The last time a Lunar was chosen in Saata, he was 'slain' by the Wyld Hunt sent after him and the next day was sharing tea with Lady Phu. In practice, an Exalt is relatively safe in Saata as long they exercise some caution and do not threaten House Sinasana's plutocracy. Many of the disparate outcastes of the cadet House would be willing to make personal deals with one of the Anathema if it was worth the risk.

The Lesser Calibration Festivals
(The night of the new moon)

The Immaculate Orthodoxy held that the night of the new moon was akin to Calibration. The moon turned his face from the world. Demons, the Dead, and the creatures of Chaos walked the world. As a result, at the turning of the months Saata holds lesser versions of the Great Calibration Festival, which last from nightfall to sunrise. The fact that many people are paid on the last day of the month also encourages the revelry.

Lantern-lit dances are held in the squares and in the streets, with fireworks set off to scare away ghosts and demons.. The pirate-lords of the city compete among one another to put on the most lavish shows as displays of their wealth and status, hiring famed courtesans and entertainers for grand plays. In the arenas, wild animals like tigers and apes are decorated to look like demons before being slain in gladiatorial displays.

A few remnants of the original Immaculate purpose of the festival remains, but in practice these are largely vestigial and have been subsumed by the cosmopolitan syncretism of modern Saata. The grossly corrupt abbot of the local Immaculate Order is a frequent attendant at the parties of one pirate lord or another, while local Immaculates hold their own celebratory festivals of famed heroes of past years that officially are there to instruct them on righteous ways to act and stand strong against temptation. In practice, they are heterodox to an extent that the Mouth of Peace would dub them idolatry. The Immaculate Orthodoxy traditionally held a much greater intercessory role for the Dragonblooded and other individuals who demonstrated harmony with the way of the Dragons; in modern Saata this has become outright ancestor worship and cult worship.

These festivals also have a darker reputation for murder. Most are just the result of inebriated violence, but assassins take advantage of both the chaos and the moonless night to eliminate their targets. It is said that some killers willing to take a contract at the new moon are already possessed by demons.

When the sun rises, the inhabitants of Saata limp home, hungover and considerably lighter in pocket. Many ships in port will linger to catch a festival, which means the first week of a month sees a greater number of ships setting sail.

Weeping Moonday
(21 Descending Earth)

Orthodoxy tradition holds that the Anathema, when they knew they were going to be defeated, released terrible plagues in their boundless spite. Most of the diseases which afflict this world were the product of their malice.

Saata appears as a dead city during this festival. All markets are closed, and public gatherings for pleasure or sport are prohibited. Even the lowest dive bars and brothels of the waterfront close. In the squares, they build great bonfires of scented wood and each person in the city is expected to contribute some personal symbol of sin or wrong-doing to the flames. The pillars of smoke which ascend to the heavens are thought to carry away the diseases and sickness of the past year, purifying the city of the curses of the Anathema. For that reason, when people go outside on this day they wear masks or veils over their mouths and noses, so that they might avoid breathing in the baneful smoke.

At sunset, the fires are extinguished, and their ashes gathered and purified by priests. After that, they are disposed of at sea, in lead-weighted barrels. The build up of curses and sickness have led to the formation of a small necrotic-aspected demesne on the ocean floor north of Saata.

The Three Quina Gentlemen Festival
(11 Resplendent Water)

From Saata, one can see the uplands of Shuu Mua. Wide expanses of quina are grown in the rich volcanic soil by House Sinasana, which claims a monopoly on the sale of it and medicines derived from the plant. Given the incidence of malaria in Saata - especially in the Season of Fire - this is a considerable source of income for the Cadet House and a choke-chain on pirate lords who act outside the permitted boundaries.

Three gods rule over the quina groves on Shuu Mua, and thus a day is set aside for them where Saata gives thanks for their power and their protection from the baleful sickness. A grand parade is held from the shrine of the three, which passes around the whole city. Birds are flayed and given as burnt offerings, to thank the trees for the gift of their bark. Those who have survived malaria in the past year are expected to offer up some minor monetary gift at the shrine of the Three, or failing that they should offer a few drops of their own blood. Children gather up stones and throw them at individuals who dress up as Yolak, the dark centipede-god whose bite causes malaria.

However, this day is not just celebration. This is the day that tax-takers from House Sinasana patrol the city, taking the collecting the tax that the House charges for all bodies of uncovered stagnant water within the city. Such places breed ill-health and mosquitos, so the rulers of the city have decided that people should pay high taxes for the privilege if they wish to keep one. As a result, in the days in the run-up to the festival there is usually a flurry of activity in neighbourhoods to try to drain ponds, unblock drains, and cover up all water barrels. The tax-takers are also known to have a rather flexible idea of what counts as 'stagnant', and thus with a small bribe pirate-lords are passed over despite their ornamental ponds while poorer neighbourhoods are charged for pools of water left after a rainstorm on the day.
 
Haunted Seedy Bathhouse

Type
: Relaxation

Description: A three story building near the docks in Saata, the Delights of Venus was once covered in brightly coloured murals covering the white stone it is built from. The paint hasn't been touched up in several years and now bone white pokes through on the figures painted on the walls. One of the blue lanterns at the gate always seems to be out, no matter what they try. Sometimes there's a faint smell of blood about the place, but most newcomers blame that on Saata's usual odour.

On the inside, the would-be attempts at decadence are worn thin. The furniture is cheap and easily replaced, the walls have been painted a cheap shade of pale blue, and if you look closely you can see that plaster has been used to cover up score marks in the walls. The gentlemen and ladies who can be hired for extra services if you have the coin are jumpy, and have to be paid extra to work past nightfall. Still, it has all the required accoutrements, both a boiler house and carefully arranged polished metal sheet to heat the water. The communal baths are in the central courtyard, while more private tubs are located on the ground floor.

Cao Dinh is the proprietor of this place, a man nearly as seedy as the building he owns. His old scars and tattoos hint at his former career as a pirate, even if he claims to just have been a merchant. But he's gone honest now, and this place is his genuine attempt to get a safe retirement on land. If only he hadn't bought a haunted bathhouse and if only he hadn't already had more than his fair share of ghosts following him.

History: The bathhouse here was built around fifty years ago, and passed through several hands with no more murders than common for Saata. Then one night, a pirate gang hired the place and their rivals showed up and the water ran red.

Cao Dinh bought this place for cheap, and only then found out why they hadn't asked for more. At first it was just a few strange sights and sounds - strange breezes, noises would be heard at midnight, a customer would swear there was someone in the bath with her even when she hadn't paid for company. But recently it's been getting worse and worse. The furniture has been smashed up repeatedly, the night shift have seen spectral figures, and oh yes, he found three mutilated corpses of guests in one of the pools last week. He dumped them in the harbour and didn't tell anyone, of course, because he's a responsible businessman.

The worst thing, though, is the nightmares. He hears voices in them. Voices that say that they know him. That he killed them. And that now he's bought a place where the world is thin, they can get their revenge.

Activity: The bathhouse should be running twenty five hours a day, but it's emptier than it should be during the night hours. Word is getting around, but with the heavy dock trade in Saata there's more than enough newcomers who don't know to avoid the Delights of Venus. As a result, the crowd here are mostly sailors rather than locals. The atmosphere is generally rowdy, with parties in the communal baths and a constant flow of spirits and sweet seaweed bear. The private baths are sometimes hired by people for meetings, but most of the time they're being used for massages and other related activities.

Significant Storyteller Characters: Cao Dinh, the retired pirate and owner of this establishment. Yuling, who handles the books and swears she's going grey from the stress (Faithful Scribe Style 5), Red Butterfly, the pretty face of the enterprise and freedwoman who greets guests (Exotic Beauty Style 6).

Extras: A rowdy group of pirates from the Padua Family who've taken over the entire central baths and are rather drunk. One of the thaumaturges complaining in a low voice that they need more copper pipes for the boilers. A cluster of masseurs, talking in low voices about what happened last night who clam up as soon as someone approaches.

Hostile Encounters: Someone in the baths believes one of the characters is looking at his girlfriend and takes it personally. One of the bouncers takes a dislike to one of the players and tries to throw them out. Late at night, the door slams shut down and the character's bathwater freezes solid - when their head is underwater.

Locations: The open air central baths, covered by a thin gauzy net strung between the buildings. The private baths, medium sized rooms on the second story which look in and have shuttered rooms. The sizable boilerhouse. The parabolic metal sheets on the roof which focus sunlight into specific pools linked to the main baths to heat them up.

Stories: Take down the owner for the bounty on his crimes. Buy it out from Cao Dinh and turn it into a money-maker which takes advantage of its central location. Help him get rid of the ghosts. Help the ghosts get rid of him. Find your attempts to chill at a bathhouse somewhat thwarted when the water in your bath turns into cold blood.
 
Alternatively, be an Abyssal Exalt and be impressed by how relaxing the bath is.
Be sure to rave about it to all your "friends" from Thorns and Skullstone.

It occurs to me that while the options are fairly standard hero fair, there are some interesting off shoots in that he could easily cater to abyssals and ghostblooded and such, right?
 
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A Silent Blade - Chapter 7
Bit of a long wait for chapter 7, sorry about that. It got delayed overnight and then left "paused" across a weekend where I had Stuff, until we decided screw it, we'd just close it and start a new session to close up the arc (which I'll be posting tomorrow) So, this session has a fair amount of combat, and Keris's first fight against Dragonblooded!

... it's not a very fair one.

Due to the arc being closed at the end of yesterday's Session 89, this "Eshtock" arc has been renamed to A Silent Blade. The Parenthood arc will follow it.

Extras:
<beginning of the session>
EarthScorpion: So, laying down the groundwork. Firstly, Keris is at the moment in Terema, and it has sizeable markets selling both the plunder from Taira as well as resupplies for mercenaries, so weapons of all kinds. If she wants to resupply or get her hands on anything particular for her false flag operation, she might be able to do it here.
Aleph: Can she find any... hmm. Well, yeah. Can she find any Thornsian weapons there?
EarthScorpion: Roll me Reaction + Bureaucracy for shopping around
Aleph: 5+0+2 Coadj=7. 2 sux.
EarthScorpion: Keris runs into the general problem that... there kind of aren't any particularly characteristic Thornsian weapons, even when she pokes around between the bulk sellers of firedust imported from the South and the people who promise they can outfit her with quarrels for a whole company. She doesn't know enough to recognise if any are made there, but she doubts it - most of the stuff here is probably made locally or a product of the endless forges of Nexus.
Aleph: Ah well. Worth a shot. Hmm. In that case... mmph. While using her Lance is tempting; it's really recognisable. Probably better to loot one of the spears from Eshtock itself to use as her weapon for this combat.
Aleph: So yeah, I can't think of... hmm. Is it worth rolling to think of anything I've missed that might come in handy?
EarthScorpion: Well, if she wants a replacement polearm or something, they have plenty. Mercenaries love polearms. Big butchery cleaver things, pikes, things from the South that are apparently a tube of firedust tied onto a pole that a horse charges into and then sets off... lots.
EarthScorpion: Hmm, actually, which artefacts does she have stashed on her person that she could use instead?
Aleph: Yeah, but one of the Eshtock spears is a nice touch - a spear that's been soaked in death and trapped up there for a very long time. And they're good quality weapons. Artefact-wise... hah, yes, actually.
Aleph: I shall roll Hoard.
EarthScorpion: No, I'm genuinely unclear what she kept. Did she keep the madness sword she got from... somewhere?
Aleph: The Hegran black-lightning madness sword she took off the demon slavers she Happened to in Cecelyne is in there, yes. As is Harmonious Jade's bow (which Calesco has), the fire elemental's tumbaga sword (which Haneyl has, so actually that's probably with her)... hmm. A few other things, I think.
EarthScorpion: Oh yeah, yeah, she melded most of that stuff into her Exalted Weapons Hoard trait or gave it to her babbies, didn't she?
Aleph: Yes, that's what I meant.
Aleph: ... well.
Aleph: More accurately, she melded it all into her Hoard, and then her babbies stole some of it.
Aleph: because they are teriblu
EarthScorpion: Okay, so what's she looking for in Hoard (which has probably also had things randomly stolen in Malfeas, or, sigh, picked up by her kids when they were free in Malfeas without telling her about it)?
Aleph: Dammit kids. Hmm. Anything death-tainted or with a deathly aura about it - something she can pass off as an artefact from the Underworld or connected to the Dead. If she can't find anything like that, something suitably Solar might ironically work, since deathknights are probably known to sometimes go after Solar tombs.
EarthScorpion: Okay, so Cog + Occult to rummage, with a +1 "equipment bonus" from how the snek is feeling happy and sated from how Keris had 'fun' with Orange Blossom and feels she came out on top.
Aleph: Mwaa haa. 3+5+1 equipment+4 Metagaos ExSux {someone else's expense (kind of), seize}=9. Haha! 6+4=10 sux! Woo hoo!
EarthScorpion: Okay, so Keris finds
- A pair of brutal twin blades made from demon-bone. Mechanically, paired short daiklaives. The demon skulls on the pommel glow faintly, and they always return to the hand if thrown.
- A beautful ornate orichalcum dire lance with two heads that looks like Orthos Prime.​
EarthScorpion: Remember, she can only have 2 dots of Exalted Weapons out at once
EarthScorpion: Once you have your pick, you can stunt returning to the Eshtock area as you wish.
Aleph: ... fuck, you give hard choices. Argh. On the one hand, SKULLS. On the other hand, ORTHOS PRIME, nnngh.
EarthScorpion: Also, do note for the stunt that she can't add this to her Dread Panoply, if she wants to avoid giving Adorjani clues. So she'll either need to carry it or have Dulmea hold onto it.

...

<after letting the hungry ghosts loose>
Aleph: oh, keris
Aleph: Calesco is going to kick your ass for this.
EarthScorpion: Hee. Going well? Feels right?
Aleph: Yup. Aleph: Definitely evocative as to the kind of horrors you can encounter from Contagion-traps.
Aleph: Sigh. This may give Keris a minor tie towards disposing of such sites wherever she finds them in future.
EarthScorpion: Hee. I was dropping hints that you could have bought some firedust at the markets.
Aleph: I know, but explosions are more Naan's thing, and the Dead are a potent distraction as is. If I was faking being a Solar I'd probably have gone for it. Solar Keris seems like the kind of person who likes her firedust.
EarthScorpion: And yeah, I try to go straight J-horror for hungry ghosts
Aleph: it works : S
EarthScorpion: That yidak scene is totally drawn by Junji Ito.
Aleph: y-you monster

...

Aleph: Hmm. How many ways does Keris have to do long-term body art?
EarthScorpion: Define "long term"?
Aleph: Tattoos, obviously, which she can do painlessly and without healing time because she's not puncturing the skin to get the ink in there. Things that aren't just paint that washes off as soon as you take a bath. Cosmetic mutations, which are basically really elaborate birthmarks. Thaum paint that needs a special solvent... honestly, that stuff is basically skin dye with a unbinding agent to get it off.
Aleph: So at least four, heh.
Aleph: Scarification, actually. Five.
EarthScorpion: The sorcerous version of Spiteful Sea Tincture, too.
EarthScorpion: ... and, uh, arguably she can use Theft As Release to remove other people's body art.
Aleph: *snrrk*
EarthScorpion: Incidentally, one function of TAR you never use is "enhancing attacks against things to take it away from everyone".
Aleph: ... true, yes.
EarthScorpion: And "persuading people to sell things"
EarthScorpion: (notably it also penalises their defences against "sell me this thing" by your Compassion)

...

EarthScorpion: Dammit zana, stop turning your one night stands into art pieces. You'll make Calesco mad at you.
Aleph: Zana: "Implying she's not already mad at me."
EarthScorpion: Zana: "Anyway, it's hardly my fault. He said he was hung like a horse. I stopped him from being a liar."
Calesco: "You turned him into a centaur."
Zana: "I thought you hated lies."​
EarthScorpion: Sigh, yes, That's Zana's thing. It's not that she turns her lovers into artwork or mutates them for her amusement. It's that she does it to people who over-promise and can't fulfil their promises. She does the literal genie thing, because in many ways she's the most fay (and fae) one. And that's the same thing she abides to in most of her life. It's disappointment she reacts to very badly in all her life. If you sell her street food and it isn't very good, she'll be perhaps mildly irked. If you sell the same food and tell her that it'll be the best fried rice she's ever eaten, that's when she snatches you up and traps you within the painted side of a rice bowl.
EarthScorpion: (Haneyl would just scorf down the rice, tell you it was awful, and refuse to pay for it)
EarthScorpion: Sigh. And that may be one of the great roots of Zanara's disagreements with Eko, especially Zana's (because Nara lies to people to butter them up). Eko considers words cheap and lies things to tell when it's more fun than the alternative. Zana hates being lied to.
Aleph: ... heh. On the other hand, it's a frame of mind that Rathan actually understands quite well when he orients himself right. It's not so different to Payback, really.
EarthScorpion: ... hee. You realise, that means the advertising in the Isles is interesting.
"Quite nice street food, not the best, but definitely better than some others in this street! Get it hot and cheap!"​
Aleph: haha
Aleph: yes
Aleph: It is technically perfectly legal to lie in your advert. It's just that doing so risks Zanara showing up and asking you to follow through on it.
Aleph: It also means that when something does advertise "the best ice cream in the Isles", you can be sure that they're either crazy or they can back it the hell up.
Aleph: (Though it will probably include a tag that says "that's made by a citizen".)
EarthScorpion: Which, sigh. Means they make a big thing about annual competitions and rankings and tournaments and people challenging each other. Because if you win and can legitimately call yourself the best, that's something that will make you rich
EarthScorpion: Haneyl: *nods*
Haneyl: "My adorable little imouto-chan has learned well from me about how to keep your citizens from getting fat and lazy. Keep them in constant competition with one another."​
EarthScorpion: Hmm. Given that, I wonder if it's Zanara who's got "the reason Keris got mad at Orange Blossom" in their portfolio.
Aleph: Hmm?
Aleph: Back when Keris originally got mad at her? Hah, yes, possibly.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, Zanara is the side of Keris that got super nettled about Orange Blossom not being there when she needed her.

...

EarthScorpion: So, you didn't feel I was pressing too hard or anything? Or feel railroaded?
Aleph: no, no, it's fine
Aleph: It's, mm. You know how something can be engaging and cool but not fun? Like a dark tv series - you can't really say that watching it is fun, but you like doing so.
Aleph: I'm definitely enjoying the game, this session was just a lot more "drama" and "serious" than usual.
EarthScorpion: Mmm. I just felt Dulmea had to hammer things home because you weren't taking the security risks of a DB sorcerer - who among other things, probably knows Stormwind Rider or Flight of Birds or something like that - properly. And it was either have Dulmea shout at you, or do something IC that might have you feeling cheated.
Aleph: Yeah. I was already intending to knock her out and chain her up and stab her the instant she showed any sign of shaping sorcery, but it worked.
EarthScorpion: And yes, heh, the "Kimberyian non-lethal poison can keep someone unconscious until they learn an anti-Poison Charm" thing is a thing, by basically just filling their body with doses by leaving them in contact with the sorcerous-painted object.
Aleph: yes, heh
Aleph: One thing Keris can do there is just put one of her slingstones in their mouth (and then leave them face-down so they don't choke).
EarthScorpion: Keris: "Okay, so, I'm going to keep her unconscious and try to brainwash her with social attacks at her dreams."
Calesco: "I'm not helping you do that."
Keris: "You actually can't stop me."​
Aleph: But she's intending here to give her to Orange Blossom in a state where if Orange Blossom wants to pretend to be an Abyssal from Thorns as well, everything will hold up.
EarthScorpion: Well, yes, that's the "keeping to the agreement" way of doing things, rather than the Louise-esque "Nope! I'mma gonna keep them!" way.
EarthScorpion: Or, you know. Could always give them to an Unquestionable.
EarthScorpion: Calesco: "I'm going on strike if you do that."

...

EarthScorpion: Heh, the "she's getting into her armour" thing was a tutorialisation thing about "how long it takes to take on armour".
Aleph: yes, lol
EarthScorpion: By RAW, it's 30 seconds plus 1 minute per dot of the mobility penalty.
Aleph: Keris's Rosethorn is bullshit for being a 30-second 0-Mobility Iron Man suit.
EarthScorpion: That's one of the many reasons Moonsilver armour is disgusting.
Aleph: : 3
EarthScorpion: And yes, in my plan, that was only what you got if you went after her in the first five minutes of the attack.
EarthScorpion: If you didn't do that, she showed up in dragon armour with the others and basically started shredding the ghosts.
Aleph: >_<
EarthScorpion: Likewise, if he'd got the spell off, around 7/8ths of the ghosts would have died, because they were all clumped into a tiny area for his Death of Magma Butterflies.
EarthScorpion: Instead
EarthScorpion: you basically
EarthScorpion: uh, well, you basically Wyld-Hunted them.
EarthScorpion: You got them distracted by fighting a big obvious threat, then you charged in with an elite kill team.
Aleph: : D

...

EarthScorpion: Hmm. What does Keris actually believe in, and what things will she pray to? Because thinking about things, she only tends turn interact with gods when she can be a peer. She doesn't seem to have any good luck things she does or have a god like Briar would mutter little things to the trickster or the good health goddess.
Aleph: Hmm. Yes, I sort of forgot to develop her faith when I built her and she's wound up a bit atheistic, insofar as such is possible in Exalted. Hmm. Well, starting from the beginning...
Aleph: When she was very, very little, she knew about the river god and possibly a couple of other immediately relevant ones and that was it.
Aleph: She promptly forgot them all along with most of the details of her family and town during the two years with Kasseni; possibly out of self-defence.
EarthScorpion: Also, the sun, because Northern Taira is very sun worshipping.
Aleph: Oh Keris. She's always been a bit Adorjani, after all. She cut loose those memories because it was easier than hurting over them.
Aleph: Yes, and the sun she remembered, I think - and because it did nothing to stop her being taken or intervene, I think that's where her sort of Thing against the high gods developed.
Aleph: She resents them more than a bit, for being powerful when she wasn't and accepting worship from those who hurt her - she heard her captors praying, and they were the same prayers, more or less.
Aleph: We know she barely interacted with the Immaculate Faith - enough that she didn't really fight being an Anathema much, and only really knew the word from stories about them being evil powerful monsters something something.
Aleph: So that leaves the other little gods.
Aleph: Hmm
EarthScorpion: Sigh. She's not really atheistic. She's really more maltheistic towards the big gods, with the exception of the moon
Aleph: Since we can retcon the earliest arcs as we like, I think maybe going to Hell and meeting the Unquestionable shook up her faith and... heh. Yes, she thought a lot like Faith. She thought in terms of bargains and pacts; promises to little terrestrial tricksters or thief-spirits or city gods and payment for favours and bargains and so on.
EarthScorpion: And the little gods are kind of more a business transaction. They're like someone on the street you have a deal with. You pay them to not rat on you and to help you out. They're not the same thing as the big gods - they're more like elementals, things that exist and you'd be a fool to deny.
Aleph: And then she went to Hell and got hit with the Unquestionable.
Aleph: And now she... basically has the same sort of understanding, but at a much higher level. The little gods she used to pray to are weaker than her now - and she came out of the Chrysalis able to see that.
Aleph: The Unquestionable work on bargains and business transactions too; but she's not one beseeching them out of the masses; she's an elite subordinate.
Aleph: Her faith has basically shifted sideways into her extreme wariness of offending or angering any Third Circles - the way she treads super-carefully around them and is all tense and nervous whenever she has to speak to them in person.
Aleph: (Whereas I suspect Sasi is... not exactly more casual, but she's used to bargaining and politicking with them, and doesn't treat it as stepping into a hazardous obstacle course every time she has an audience with them.)
Aleph: Yeah, IEI and her first trip to Hell were the big things that shook her street-rat worship.
Aleph: And, heh. She doesn't pray much because she knows her prayers are worth something and is wary of throwing that around and getting more Unquestionable attention.
Aleph: (Also she's arrogant enough in her skills now that she doesn't feel like she needs every last possible scrap of luck she can get.)
EarthScorpion: And, sigh. The fact that she's been closer to Yozis than basically anyone and slept with Adorjan and that was basically a religious experience really warped her capacity to believe in other things.
Aleph: "oh, you're an ocean god"
"Deity of the third rank, Cult 3, I see."
"Wow. I'm so honoured to meet you."
"Why, you're about as powerful as my looks-like-a-six-year-old youngest child."
"Truly, I am terrified."​
EarthScorpion: The worst thing is that Keris' demonic familiars are as powerful as many gods. Even more so once they're at +1 enlightenment.
Aleph: Priest: "Begone, demon!"
Rounen: "Or what?"​
EarthScorpion: The median inhabitant of her soul is as powerful as a god of the second rank.
Aleph: well, depends on how many E0 akuma there are in there.
EarthScorpion: The median self aware inhabitant.
Aleph: But yes, the median citizen, certainly. And mode.
EarthScorpion: Most adult keruby are E3, so adult Rounen is E4.

...

EarthScorpion: If I may say something
Aleph: ?
Aleph: you generally don't ask permission first
EarthScorpion: I think you're sort of running into the problem that your plans are, I realised brushing my teeth, kind of the plans for a three man party. Of a political/war sort to be the pirate queen, the zenith to be the dancer/politician, and the twilight alchemist and experimenter.
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: yes
Aleph: And Keris is trying to fill all three roles.
Aleph: yes
Aleph: bluh
EarthScorpion: At least for the twilight, you can broadly outsource some of that to Keris' souls as "party members". And even potentially the pirate queen, at least in a few years time once the souls have grown up a bit and maybe even studied with someone on how-to-war.
Aleph: Yeah - I was actually thinking of just putting Haneyl in charge of "set me up with some plant tech yo" and letting her handle that angle.
EarthScorpion: But it still might be an idea to focus more.
Aleph: Mmm.
 
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